How are the Biogenesis guys doing?

The suspensions have all been served--except Alex Rodriguez, who is still serving his--and all those players who were suspended must be struggling without their chemical boosts, right? Well...not exactly. The "stars" that were caught are still thriving. Those caught from the fringes have not fared so well.

Ryan Braun was (besides A-Rod) perhaps the biggest star brought down by the witch hunt investigation. His involvement really angered a lot of people because his denial and defense cost a guy his job the year before. Fair enough. But what about his performance this year without (we assume) his chemical dependency?

Braun's OPS thus far is .952 despite chronic problems with a thumb. That OPS is ahead of his career total and he is slugging like he did in 2011 and 2012. My guess is that he could have stayed off the stuff and done just as well as on it.

Then there is Nelson Cruz. Cruz is fitting nicely in the Orioles' lineup. His current OPS is .941, more than 100 points ahead of his career average and (to this point) his highest since 2010. I guess he didn't need that stuff either.

Everth Cabrera's OPS of .725 is 49 points than his career average. His current slugging percentage is the highest of his career. His fielding is as good as ever, if not better. He still doesn't walk enough, but hey, the chemists never said the stuff would make you more patient.

Jhonny Peralta was off to a really slow start, but even so, his OPS is eleven points higher than his career average. And he is coming around nicely with a 1.340 OPS over his last seven games. His defense at short has been good as well.

So far, if we assume that all these players are now off any performance enhancers, it appears they never needed any to begin with.

Antonio Bastardo might be a different case. According to his pitching data, he has lost a mile per hour off his fastball and his strikeout rate is down from 9.99 per nine last year to 9.00 this year. His FIP is at 4.99, which is pretty bad and his walk rate is way up. But his fastball velocity and strikeout rates have decreased every year since 2010. So is this a guy losing his stuff without the juice, or a guy losing his stuff due to the natural scheme of physiology?

Other than Bastardo, which had to be an awful last name to grow up with, the "stars" that were caught by the scandal are showing that they can thrive post scandal. The players really hurt by the whole thing were the fringe guys.

Two are in the minors, Jesus Montero and Cesar Puello. Montero is off to a fine start with the bat. I don't think the forty pounds he gained before Spring Training were a result of less juice in his system. Perhaps he was just lazy. Puello has struggled thus far to get going in his minor league start.

Francisco Cervelli won the backup catcher gig with the Yankees with a great spring. But he hurt himself (again) and is currently on the 60-day DL.

The rest seem to be out of baseball. Jordany Valdespin, Fernando Martinez, Sergio Escalona, Fautino de los Santos and Jordan Norberto all have no 2014 stats anywhere in the Majors or the Minors.

It should be noted that besides Braun, all of these players are Hispanic and the majority of them from the Dominican Republic. The latter is a mess that MLB created by the pressure of getting out of that depressed country for the promise of a paycheck playing baseball.

I am not excusing these players. They were caught with their shorts around their ankles. We can debate how MLB obtained the information. But the truth here is that good players are good players with or without so-called performance enhancers and those who have not made it yet in the Majors as established players have a lot more to lose and usually do in these kinds of scandals. To be sure, we still have a small sample size this year and we'll check in with these smudged players at the end of the season.

Drugs have always been in baseball

Twitter was quite alive last night first with the news of Brian McCann signing with the Yankees and shortly after with the news that, apparently, Jhonny Peralta is set to sign a big deal with the Cardinals. The latter provided much more irony and angst since Peralta got caught up in the Biogenesis scandal and lost fifty games of his season in 2013. Despite paying his penalty, the common comment was that PEDs work if you look at how rich Peralta just made himself. I do not get all the hysteria over this. After all drugs have been in baseball forever.

The thought for this article came to me while at MLB.com watching an Adam LaRoche clip. It occurred to me that drugs were all over the sport. We have Phil Coke and Brett Pill and even the star of the World Series is called, "Big Poppy." So why are we hating on Jhonny Peralta? Heck, even one of his former teammates, Anibal(ic) Sanchez was named after a steroid. But the point is, these guys just follow a long list of drugs in the game.

For example, there have always been "bennies" in the game. It is stimulating to know that Bennie Tate played in the 1920s and 30s, Bennie Warren played in the 30s and 40s and Bennie Daniels played in the 50s and 60s. So bennies have always been around.


And who could forget Bob Greenwood back in the 1950s? Greenwood had a successful cup of coffee in 1954 and then got bombed out in one game in 1955 and never saw the Major Leagues again. He did pitch several more years in the minors. The 6'5" right-hander seemed to have a pitcher's build. His nickname was, "Greenie." If you want to know why, just look to the right at his picture. Look at those eyes!

Again, this goes way back. Heck, back in the 1880s and 90s, there was Ducky Hemp. The outfielder played two partial years and looked totally lost. Again, all you have to do is look at his picture on the left to know there was a problem.

Then, as soon as the century ended and we get into the early "nineteen-aughts," we find an infielder/outfielder named Frank LaPorte. Obviously, he had a traumatic upbringing being born with the nickname, "Breyfogle." I mean, what the heck is that? So it is understandable that his nickname is forever known as, "Pot." And if you click on his name that is linked and look at his baseball-reference.com page at his picture, you will certainly see that he was a stoner.

And speaking of stoners, a guy named Lil Stoner played in the 1920s and 30s and Tobi Stoner just played recently in the last decade. So you see, you'll never rid the game of this stuff.

And it hasn't just been weed and amphetamines that have been a problem. From 1905 to 1920, a guy named Fred Luderus played in the Majors. You don't think it a bit suspicious that his nickname was, "Ludy?" And during Ludy's playing days, Frank Ludes played in the minors.

And just so you don't think Phil Coke is alone, the 1950s and 60s saw a Jimmie Coker roaming Major League fields. And if that wasn't bad enough, a harder version exists too. And he is a catcher in the Hall of Fame! Chicago loved Ray Schalk even though his nickname was, "Cracker." You have another Hall of Fame player named Chief Bender.

And there were a lot of different drugs involved. There was Scat Metha and then there was Herb Hash, who had an appropriate first name. In the early days of the Pacific Coast League, there was a guy named Louis Smacker.

And there is another drug that people think is quite modern. But it goes way back. In fact, Molly Moore played in 1875 and soon after, there was Molly Craft.

How many players named Adam have there been? You cannot fool me. That was a slang term for Meth. And what about all the Reds? What about Angels? Is that not a nickname for PCP?

Charlie Grimm played for twenty years early in the 20th Century and then managed. His nickname was Jolly Cholly. We know what "cholly" is a nickname for, so it was no wonder, Charlie was jolly.

And what about one of my all time favorites, Dooley Womack? There have been five minor league players with the name, Downer. There historically has been seven minor league players named Dube and two named Dubee. So it is not just a Major League problem.

I think I have proven my point. PEDs may be the latest problem. But the game has always been full of drugs. Geez, there was a guy who played from 1913 until 1918 named, Hugh High. So this has always been there. Get over it already.

Disclaimer: Obviously, this is all a joke and there is no intention to indict any of these players for actual drug use.

The most accurate shortstop arms

When I was a kid, my brother and I made up this game called, "Ground ball to first." We would stand on opposite sides of the street about 70 to 90 feet apart and each half inning of a nine inning game consisted of us taking turns playing shortstop and first base. The first baseman was on "offense" and would throw grounders to the other. An out required a perfect field of the baseball and a perfect throw back to the first baseman. Errors were the only way to score. It was from that game that I have always appreciated the strong, accurate throw from the shortstop position.

I had the idea to go through the list of shortstops in the last fifty or so years who are on Baseball-reference.com's assist leaders. I also took a look at those with the top fielding percentages and zone ratings. Please note that I am not looking for the best fielding shortstops here. I am only looking for the most accurate arms. If you dig down enough for each player, you can find out how many of his total errors were throwing errors and then it is a simple case of dividing the throwing errors by throwing errors plus assists.

I know this is not perfect because some of the throws might have been relay throws and some benefited from year to year by who played first base and that first baseman's scooping ability (or height!). But I would assume all of that stuff evened out over the length of each player's career. I also know that I did not get everyone. I added to my list at least four times and am sure I missed a couple.

But the list became interesting as it is and gives a pretty good snapshot of what shortstop's arm was accurate or not. Here are my numbers from best to worst:

1. Larry Bowa - .0022
2. Dave Concepcion - .0037
3. Mark Belanger - .0041
4. Bill Russell - .0046
5. Bucky Dent - .0048
6. Don Kessinger - .0053
7. Leo Cardenas - .0057
8. Bert Campaneris - .00596
9. Robin Yount - ..00599
10. Bud Harrelson - .0067
11. Roy McMillan - .007105
12. Cal Ripken, Jr. - .007108
13. Omar Vizquel - .00711
14. Chris Speier - .007198
15. Ozzie Smith - .007199
16. Alan Trammell - .0073
17. Garry Templeton - .0075
18. Luis Aparicio - .008638
19. Rey Sanchez - .008647
20. Tony Fernandez - .0090
21. Jimmy Rollins - .0104
22. Ed Brinkman - .0119
23. Ozzie Guillen - .0126
24. Alex Rodriguez - .0134
25. Royce Clayton - .0144
26. Barry Larkin - .0158
27. Miguel Tejada - .0164
28. Edgar Renteria - .0167
29. Derek Jeter - .0178

Larry Bowa was amazingly accurate and tops our list of modern shortstops with the most accurate arm. Eight of his sixteen full seasons at shortstop had zero throwing errors. Zero! And five others included only one throwing error. He made only 15 throwing errors his entire career. Eight of those were in the first two seasons he played. He went from 1974 to 1980 without a single throwing error. Amazing.

Of course, throwing accurately is only part of a shortstop equation. B-R also tracks something called Percentage of fielded balls that turned into outs. Throwing is only a part of that equation. Release and simply catching the ball cleanly also play a part. During all seasons I looked at, 89 or 90% was the league average.

1. 95% - Mark Belanger
2. 93% - Leo Cardinas, Rey Sanchez, Bud Harrelson, Roy McMillan
3. 92% - Larry Bowa, Bert Campaneris, Alan Trammell, Cal Ripken, Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Luis Aparicio, Bucky Dent, Robin Yount
4. 91% - Conception, Templeton, Speier, Jeter, Ozzie Smith, Omar Vizquel, Brinkman, Guillen
5. 90% - Tejada, Russell, Rollins
6. 89% - Clayton, Renteria, Fernandez
7. 88% - Kessinger

So the old saw would apply that most of these long-time shortstops "made all the plays."

For 2013, the top five in throwing accuracy from shortstop were:

1. Stephen Drew - .0030
2. Jose Iglesias - .0057
3. Asdrubal Cabrera - .0095
4. Jhonny Peralta - .0101
5. Troy Tulowitzki - .0104

Please remember that I am not saying this makes the best shortstop. Good old Asdrubal points that out in this list. But it is interesting to see who has the most accurate arms from the shortstop position. Larry Bowa should be smiling at Stephen Drew.

Escobar and Peralta

The 2011 MLB season has been full of surprises. Now nearly a hundred games into the season, players that were derided heavily such as Melky Cabrera, Emelio Bonifacio and others are making a lot of people look silly--including this writer. So it should be no surprise that the leader board for shortstops this season is full of surprises. Jose Reyes is at the top, which is no surprise considering the season he is having (though that season is a surprise). Troy Tulowitzki is second, which is no surprise as he is the best shortstop in baseball. It's the three and five positions in the list that are startling. Sitting at third is Jhonny Peralta of the Detroit Tigers. What!? Sitting fourth is Asdrubal Cabrera which isn't really a surprise. But fifth? That would be Yunel Escobar of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Let's start with Yunel Escobar, a player that was traded from the Atlanta Braves last year in a deal that was considered addition by subtraction. There seemed to be almost a player revolt concerning Escobar last season in Atlanta and the team seemed relieved to be rid of him. And perhaps they were right. Escobar has all kinds of talent, but last year combined with both the Braves and the Blue Jays, managed just a .653 OPS. And his fielding just seemed to tank. It's as if he didn't have it any more.

But maybe last season should have been the surprise because Escobar was very good the two seasons prior to 2010. And perhaps "very good" is an understatement. According to Fangraphs, his play was worth $16.4 million in 2008 and $20 million in 2009. To fall to a season worth $8.5 million last season was shocking. But Escobar seems to be in a better place this season and his season is already worth $15.5 million with sixty games to go.

While it would be easy to editorialize and talk about his personality, effort and the like, that would be foolishness without a deeper knowledge about the man and his life. This writer has no such knowledge and like Dragnet, we'll stick to the facts. And the facts are that Yunel Escobar has been one of the best shortstops in baseball this season.  His fielding has rebounded and he is having a terrific season at the plate.

Escobar is much more disciplined at the plate. He only swings at 20 percent of pitches outside the strike zone. That's in the Lance Berkman category and he is on pace to earn the highest number of walks in his career. His .377 OBP is a testament to that patience. Plus, his 28 extra base hits already tops his 23 of last season, a season where he finished with a puny .317 slugging percentage. This season's slugging is a much more respectable .437. And Escobar's batting average is much more in line with his career norm compared to last year.

Yes, the Blue Jays got a steal when they acquired Yunel Escobar. The Braves may have lost a headache, but Toronto's risk has been rewarded.

Jhonny Peralta has been amazing. This writer wasn't the only one across this land that thought the Tigers were crazy for trading for Peralta and installing him as their every day shortstop. Yeah, crazy like a fox. Peralta is just one more example that we writers often don't know what we are talking about. Peralta's fielding hasn't even been the liability that we all chipped him for.

But Peralta at the plate has been the greatest surprise. His slugging percentage is the highest of his career and only his 2005 season comes close. Naturally, his ISO is the highest it has been for Peralta since 2005 and again, his wOBA is his best ever. Last season, Peralta finished with a .703 OPS. His numbers across the board were poor. How poor? He scored a -5.8 batting runs above average (or in his case, below) last year. That number is a positive 20.4 this season. Last season, he finished with a score of -5.7 base running runs above average (or again, below). This year, he's still in negative territory, but it's better. And to round out the stats, last year, he finished with a -3.8 runs above average for his fielding. This season he is in the positive numbers at 0.4.

Peralta's play was worth only $3.3 million in 2010 and that was coming off a 2009 season where he was worth only $4.7 million. All the more astounding that his play is already worth north of $16 million this year. The only knock on his game is that he's still not the most patient of hitters. His walk percentage is the lowest of his career at 6.9 percent. But this writer thinks the Tigers won't complain when his OPS is at .915!

Yes, this season has been a season of surprises. Jhonny Peralta has been one of the chief surprises of them all. As for Yunel Escobar, perhaps the only surprise is that he was so bad last year when this year is much more indicative of the kind of player he has been in the majors since he first arrived from Cuba.

Can't Find Faulta With Peralta

When this post was conceived, there was the overwhelming urge to ask the Detroit Tigers just what the heck they were doing in signing Jhonny Peralta to a two year deal worth nearly six mil a season. Really? Jhonny Peralta. But then, after taking a look at this stats, the contract really isn't that bad a deal for the Tigers.

Peralta had one really bad year in 2009. He bounced back to his career norms for 2010 (though he didn't play that well for Detroit after he was traded). But those career norms average around $6 million a year in value. Peralta is a reliable fielder with good range at third (but not at short) with a good arm. His defensive numbers have been reliably on the north side of zero for most of his career. Like his offense, Peralta's defense suffered a bit after he was traded to the Tigers. But perhaps that can be explained by a lack of comfort in being thrown into a new arrangement after years at Cleveland.

Peralta will give you 15 to 18 homers a year with 30+ doubles thrown in. His OPS+ has averaged just around the league norm. He strikes out too much and gives you a walk occasionally, but he won't kill you with his offense. Plus, he is only 28 years old and should be in his peak years. Two years at almost $12 million for a guy who has an average worth of $6 million is not signing Peralta at below market value, but at least his next two seasons should be peak and the deal could become a bargain.

It's funny how sometimes perception becomes reality in one's mind. This Fan has never been impressed with Peralta. The Tigers have already signed Inge though, so Peralta will play short? If that is the case, the Fan likes the deal a little less because Peralta at shortstop is not his best position. But it's not a bad move. It may not be the juiciest deal for Tigers' fans, but at least it wasn't stupid or something like this Fan at first thought.

The Trade Deadline Has Been a Bore

Yeah, the Dodgers got Podsednik. He's a decent player and should help the Dodgers who need a miracle more than an outfielder to make the playoffs. Yeah, the Tigers got Jhonny Peralta who used to have some power and still plays a pretty good third base. But, come on! Those are boring. Derrek Lee to the Angels would have been sort of fun. But he is a 10/5 guy and refused to go. That's his right and this Fan doesn't blame him. But other than that, we have lots of rumors and little else. It's starting to feel that nobody is really going to pull the trigger on any kind of blockbuster deal right now.

We might as well look at the two deals that did go down. Scott Podsednik will help the Dodgers who have lost Manny and Reed Johnson and needed an outfielder. He'll bat .300. He'll get on base at a .350 clip. He'll steal bases (and get thrown out a third of the time). He'll get some triples. He runs the bases well. He's a mediocre outfielder. But he'll due for the Dodgers. He certainly won't hurt them.

What is curious is that the Dodgers traded their best catching prospect to get him. The Dodgers don't have any other decent catchers in their system. Russell Martin hasn't looked good for quite a while now. Why would they do that? Probably because the Royals desperately needed catching help. But at the end of the day, the Dodgers got a useful player who is also very cheap to have. He doesn't make much in the grand scheme of things so he fits in the Dodgers' limited budget. Good for the Royals. Okay for the Dodgers.

The Tigers are desperate to stay in the Central race. They have been leaking badly for two weeks now and losing Brandon Inge didn't help. Though, that's certainly up for debate. Peralta has lost all his power for some reason (hmmm). But he's an okay hitter who won't clog the bases with a high OBP. He makes his share of errors at third, but overall, he has played there pretty well the last two years. Frankly, the Tigers don't figure to catch the leaders in the division, so it all seems like a moot point. The Indians get a low minors prospect that may work out someday a long way from now. They also free up the $4.5 million that Peralta was making. So that makes sense for them. Peralta had seemingly run his course in Cleveland anyway and now the team can go in a different direction.

So those are the day's two big headlines. [[yawn]] At least their names are different. There aren't too many better nicknames in baseball better than The Podfather. And there isn't another Jhonny in baseball. That's the best the Fan can do with this. Maybe tomorrow or this weekend will bring some pizazz. But the Fan's gut is telling him that any further deals will be small ones like these two.